First meeting of JPC on 'One Nation One Election' today, these two bills will be discussed

The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 'One Nation, One Election' will begin on Wednesday (8 January) at 11 am. Officials of the Union Law and Justice (Legislative Department) will give information to the members of the committee.

Last month, the government introduced a bill related to 'one country, one election' in the Lok Sabha

Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting

The first meeting of the JPC will be held on Wednesday regarding "One Nation, One Election". This meeting has been called to review the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territory Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024. The main objective of the meeting is to familiarize the members with these two major bills. In the meeting, officials of the Ministry of Law and Justice will give information on the provisions of the proposed laws.

Review the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024

On 17 December 2024, 'One Nation One Election' Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha. The JPC will be headed by BJP MP P.P. Choudhary. The committee has a total of 39 members, 27 from Lok Sabha and 12 from Rajya Sabha.

The main task of the JPC will be to examine the feasibility and planning of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Apart from this, the committee will also evaluate proposals to hold elections in union territories like Puducherry, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir with the Lok Sabha elections.

Committee will also evaluate proposals to hold elections in union territories

The JPC members also include opposition leaders like Congress' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, BJP's Anurag Thakur and Anil Baluni, Trinamool Congress' Kalyan Banerjee, and Samajwadi Party's Dharmendra Yadav. The committee's discussions and recommendations will affect the future of India's electoral process.

After a debate that lasted for about 90 minutes, Law Minister Arjun Meghwal introduced the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha. In the division of votes, 269 MPs voted in favor and 198 against it. After this, the bill was sent to the committee for further scrutiny.

Simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies

The committee also comprises Lok Sabha MP P.P. Chaudhary, C.M. Ramesh, Bansuri Swaraj, Parshottam Rupala, Anurag Singh Thakur, Vishnu Dayal Ram, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Sambit Patra, Anil Baluni, Vishnu Dutt Sharma, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Tewari, Sukhdev Bhagat, Dharmendra Yadav, Kalyan Banerjee, T.M. Selvaganapati, G.M. Harish Balayogi, Supriya Sule, Srikant Shinde, Chandan Chauhan and Balashouri Vallabhneni.

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Summary

The government argues that holding simultaneous elections will improve governance and reduce costs, while opposition parties are concerned about its impact on the federal structure. The JPC will play an important role in addressing these concerns and building consensus on this historic electoral reform.